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The test and slaughter policy of the federal government of Nigeria on contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) in cattle is no longer feasible because it lacked the political will as a result, farmers tend to treat their cattle of the disease most which has been ineffective. herefore, the quest for a supportive clinical management protocol for CBPP in cattle aimed at enabling the cow regain its body condition in order to allow the farmer sell the cow for slaughter at a profit was the aim of this case report. A 6-year-old Bunaji cow weighing 350kg with history of not feeding well, lagging behind during grazing, difficulty in breathing, intermittent cough and bloat was presented. Physical examination was carried out and differential diagnoses which included contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, mango choke, Pasteurellosis and tuberculosis were considered. After a careful scrutiny of the differentials, a tentative diagnosis of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia which was confirmed by the Latex agglutination test (LAT) was arrived at. A supportive clinical management protocol was instituted with the sole aim of enabling the cow regain its body condition in order to allow the farmer sell the cow for slaughter at a profit. The protocol involved isolation of the cow and administration of 20% tetracycline long acting through a combination of conventional (intra-muscular) and non-conventional (intra-venous) routes of administration along with an anti-inflammatory agent and an appetite stimulant. Six days after the commencement of therapy, the observed clinical signs subsided greatly and the cow became apparently healthy. The study showed that, the protocol of administering 20%tetracycline long acting through a combination of conventional (intra-muscular) and nonconventional (intra-venous) routes along with an anti-inflammatory agent (dexamethasone) and an appetite stimulant (vit. B. complex) was effective and profitable to the farmer. The client was advised to sell the cow for slaughter after observing the 21- day withdrawal period of the drugs.

This paper presents the development and integration of a power control algorithm into the User Association Algorithm with Optimal Bandwidth Allocation (UAAOBA) to form a Hybrid Algorithm for User Association and Resource Allocation (HAUARA). The power control algorithm updates the transmit power of the Base Stations (BSs) towards a minimum transmit power that satisfies the minimum data rate requirement (1 Gbps) of the User Equipment UEs. The power update is achieved using the Newton Rhapson’s method and it adapts the transmit powers of the BSs to the number of their connected UEs. The developed HAUARA provides an optimal solution for user associations, bandwidth allocation, and transmit powers to UEs concurrently. This maximizes the network energy efficiency by coordinating the load fairness of the network while guaranteeing the quality of service requirement of the UEs. The network energy efficiency performance of the developed HAUARA is compared with that of the UAAOBA. The results show that the developed algorithm has network energy efficiency improvement of 12.36%, 10.58%, and 13.44% with respect to UAAOBA for increase number of macro BS antennas, pico BSs, and femto BSs, respectively. Also, the network load balancing performance of the developed HAUARA is compared with that of the UAAOBA. The results show that the developed algorithm has network load balancing improvement of 12.62%, 10.04%, and 10.34% with respect to UAAOBA for increase number of macro BS antennas, pico BSs, and femto BSs, respectively. This implies that the developed algorithm outperforms the UAAOBA in terms of network energy efficiency and load balancing.

Asphalt pavement in tropical countries like Malaysia faces severe distresses. Thus, the use of more resistant and stable asphalt mixtures on the surface layer like stone matrix asphalt concrete (SMAC) is encouraged. The performance-related properties of asphaltic concrete are highly influenced by the mixing process and the asphalt mixtures homogeneity and segregation are pivotal issues affecting asphaltic concrete production. Malaysian palm oil industry generates a large amount of waste palm fiber (WPOF) which are largely discarded. This study investigates the feasibility of utilizing WPOF as a stabilizer in SMAC and evaluates the influence of two different mixing processes (traditional and sequential) on its properties The SMAC mixtures were reinforced with various content of WPOF, 0–0.6% by weight of the total mix and evaluated for volumetric and mechanical properties. Several standard laboratory test methods were used to examine the mixtures: Marshall properties, drain down test, Cantabro, stiffness modulus, moisture damage test. The study revealed sequential mixing as a more viable mixing alternative for SMAC, as it shows lower drain down, air void, and optimum bitumen content with higher Marshall stability and voids in mineral aggregate values. While for the mechanical properties the sequential mixing shows higher moisture resistances, stiffness modulus, and less Cantabro loss for all mixture’s types compared to the convention blends. It was observed that the optimum WPOF dosage is 0.3% for both mixing processes, Though, the sequential mixing shows improved mechanical properties. These improved properties are probably due to improving coating and proper dispersion of mixing materials during the mixing process. In conclusion, utilizing WPOF as stabilizers improve SMAC mixtures properties whereas, the sequential process produces better properties even at marginally lower OBC and mixing time.

[EN] The importance of wireless path loss prediction and interference minimization studies in various environments cannot be over-emphasized. In fact, numerous researchers have done massive work on scrutinizing the effectiveness of existing path loss models for channel modeling. The difficulties experienced by the researchers determining or having the detailed information about the propagating environment prompted for the use of computational intelligence (CI) methods in the prediction of path loss. This paper presents a comprehensive and systematic literature review on the application of nature-inspired computational approaches in radio propagation analysis. In particular, we cover artificial neural networks (ANNs), fuzzy inference systems (FISs), swarm intelligence (SI), and other computational techniques. The main research trends and a general overview of the different research areas, open research issues, and future research directions are also presented in this paper. This review paper will serve as reference material for researchers in the field of channel modeling or radio propagation and in particular for research in path loss prediction., This work was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Federal Government of Nigeria, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Institutional Based Research (IBR) Fund, 2018.

The problem of load imbalance in HetNets among wireless access technologies is addressed in this article. A two-step strategy algorithm was adopted in this work, which considers both load and bandwidth. The first step is a randomized algorithm based on the Monte Carlo scheduling strategy while the second step was a load leveling algorithm that used the brute force method to classify the load on access technologies as average, below average and above average. The obtained results when compared to those of Least Connected Algorithm (LCA) performed better. The results achieved a global load balancing fairness of 0.9119 which was 12.37% better than LCA. The significance of the achieved result translates to better resource utilization among the wireless access technologies and better Quality of Service (QoS) for users. Keywords : two-step strategy, load balancing, least connected algorithm, quality of service, Monte Carlo algorithm

Energy efficient routing protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is an important area of research due to energy limitations. It is therefore important to maximize the limited energy so as to increase the network lifetime of the WSN. In this paper, a modified energy efficient multi-hop routing protocol (mEEMRP) in a 200 m2 field is presented. This protocol is based on a technique that involves balancing load between communication management (CM) nodes during the multi-hop routing of aggregated data to the base station (BS), where the residual energy (RE) levels of CM nodes are considered as well as the distance between neighboring CM nodes. Simulation results showed that mEEMRP yielded a 1.77% improvement over energy efficient multi-hop routing protocol (EEMRP) in terms of network lifetime. More so, the proposed mEEMRP also improved the energy consumption and the number of packets received at the BS by 4.83% and 7.41%, respectively.Keywords: Routing protocol, Multi-hop routing, Network lifetime, mEEMRP, EEMRP

Deep reinforcement learning has recorded remarkable performance in diverse application areas of artificial intelligence: pattern recognition, robotics, object segmentation, recommendation-system, and gaming. In recent times, the applicability of deep learning to telecommunication technology is gradually attracting a lot of attention, especially in spectrum sensing, a core component in cognitive radio. The traditional approaches to spectrum sensing are heavily prone to noise uncertainty and often rely on either complete or partial prior knowledge of the primary users. An alternative method that can curb the aforementioned problem is deep reinforcement learning, which integrates several layers of neural networks for extracting and learning features automatically from a given data. Hence, we survey and propose a theoretical hypothetic model formulation of deep reinforcement learning as an effective method for creating a cooperative spectrum sensing model that can overcome the limitations of traditional spectrum sensing methods, which are often prone to low sensing precision. Also, the study provides an overview of past, current, and future advances in cognitive radio networks. The discussion herein will be of interest to a wide range of audiences in telecommunication and artificial intelligence.

The farming systems of Zone II of the Niger State Agricultural Development Project (NSADP) were surveyed in September 2000. All the nine Local Government Areas (LGAs) covering three ecological zones of the zone were covered in the selection of villages for the group and individual interviews with farmers in the administration of questionnaires. Farms were visited and assessed for extent of damage caused by insect, weeds, vertebrate and avian pests as well as diseases. Weeds of economic importance in the zone were Striga hermonthica (Del) Benth; Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour) Clayton; Ageratum conyzoides L.; Cyprus rotundus, C. distans and Commelina benghalensis L. Maize streak virus, rice blast and groundout rosette were the damaging diseases of maize, rice and groundnut, respectively. Bush fowl, Quelea sp. and monkeys were the most serious avian and vertebrate pests, respectively. Farmers' management practices for these pests were documented. Short- and long-term solutions to these problems are to be...

Problem statement: Inadequate knowledge of electromagnetic field emitted by mobile phones and increased usage at close proximity, created a lot of skepticism and speculations among end users on its safety or otherwise. Approach: In this study, near field electromagnetic field radiation measurements were conducted on different brand of mobile phones in active mode using a tri-axis isotropic probe and electric field meter. Results: The highest electromagnetic field exposure was recorded when the mobile phones are at outgoing call mode and backing the probe, which is higher in comparison to ICNIRP guidelines for exposure to general public. Conclusion: According to this finding, some mobile phones electromagnetic field radiation were found to be lower than the ICNIRP guidelines while some were far above the guidelines. Electromagnetic field intensity however, depends on the mode of operation and proximity of the mobile phones to the end user; hence it is safer to use mobile phones at SMS mode.

One hundred and twenty day-old Hubbard broiler birds were used to study the effects of anaerobic fermentation and lyle treatment of Delonix seed meal on the performance of starter broilers. The experimental period spanned 5 weeks. The birds were divided into four treatment groups of three replicates each using complete randomized design. The anaerobically fermented and lyle treated Delonix seed meal (AFLTDSM) was used to replace groundnut cake (GNC) at 0%, 5% and 7.5% level. Untreated raw Delonix seed meal (URDSM) was also used at 5% level in order to evaluate its effects on starter broiler performance. The four treatments were designated as T , T , T and T respectively. Parameters evaluated were mean body 1 2 3 4 weight, daily body weight gain, mean feed intake, mean feed conversion ratio as well as apparent nutrient digestibility. The results showed that mean body weight, daily body weight gain, mean feed intake and mean feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected (p>0.05) by the substitution of GNC with AFLTDSM in the diets. However, apparent nutrient digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ash, ether extract (EE) and Nitrogen free extract (NFE) were significantly affected (p 0.05) by the inclusion of Delonix seed meal in the diets. It wa s concluded that AFLTDSM could be used as a substitute for GNC in starter broilers diet without any significant effect on the performance of the birds.

A field experiment was conducted during the 1994 and 1995 wet seasons on the research farm of the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru (11°11'N, 0.7°E 680 m) located in the northern Guinea Savannah ecological zone of Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three levels of nitrogen (0, 60 and 120 KgN/ha) in the main plot and ten periods of weed removal/infestation in the sub-plot. The productivity of both maize and rice was enhanced by increased application of nitrogen fertilizer in both years in all the plots that were kept weed free from the initial 6 weeks after sowing (WAS) up to harvest. Weed infestation for the initial 3 WAS enhanced the productivity of these crops. However, there was no significant response of nitrogen application in the plots that were kept weed-free for only the initial 3 WAS and those weeds infested throughout the crop cycle.

Thermographic measurements were performed on Mus musculus (Swiss albino mice) exposed to non-ionizing electromagnetic field (EMF) of 2.14 GHz Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) downlink frequency to determine thermal effect. Sham-exposed mice samples show consistent transient increase in daily mean body temperature. The mice samples were expected to experience a rise in body temperature when exposed to UMTS signal. However, the exposed samples show a gradual decrease in mean body temperature pattern for the first 10 days and then settled at a lower mean body temperature range until day 21. In conclusion, the thermographic measurement results did not demonstrate a significant thermal effect mediated by 2.14 GHz EMF exposure at 1 V/m, with highly variable individual response of the mice samples to the exposure observed in both groups. Actual thermal effects might have been masked by the thermoregulatory mechanism or other factors, or the exposure level applied was too low to produce any observable thermal effect. The measurement results also support that mice rarely survived when their body temperature dropped below 33.3°C of hypothermia endpoint temperature.

Rapid development in the field of telecommunication industries and the lagging phase to which the exposure assessment results, calls for immediate intervention by scientist and engineers. In order to respond to public outcry, who are daily exposed to various sort of electromagnetic field radiations, a critical look on the electromagnetic field exposure guidelines and assessment of its effectiveness revealed that the guidelines are conservatives and are based only on short-term immediate health effects. In order to accommodate for the unforeseen, a lower limit of 1 w/kg instead of 4 w/kg of the SAR is recommended with a safety margin of 100 for occupational and 10 for the general public. Possible solutions to the gap identified were also provided.